A database is a collection of information that is stored in such a way that a computer program can quickly find desired data. Databases are used for many purposes throughout the world such as, for example, to store information regarding financial accounts, contact information, parts for specific products, court cases, and a multitude of other different uses. It is sometimes desirable to have a database that is accessible by many people at once such that multiple people can access data simultaneously. With the growth of the Internet, it has also become desirable for people in remote locations to be able to access data.
One problem with prior art databases is that, for a database to be used on a global basis, it was often necessary to create a “local copy” of the database in the remote location. For example, a database system may be stored in New York. However, it is desirable to have the database system accessed by people in London, England. Accessing a database on a global basis often becomes slow. Therefore, databases of the prior art relied on a local copy of the database being used in England and other sites that are far from the location of the database. Some globally used databases required the use of multiple local copies because of the number of users in different areas of the world. The local copy is periodically synchronized such that the information in the local database is the same as the information in the master database. However, between synchronizations, the data in the local database may be different than data in the master database. Such a situation may occur when either the master database is changed or when the local database is changed. Because certain databases contain very important information that can be changed by certain users, it is desirable to have a database that is accessible worldwide and does not incorporate the use of local databases.
One other problem with prior art databases is the lack of ability to search certain types of files. Databases typically contain records and fields. Fields contain individual pieces of information, such as a part number, or contact address, while a record is a complete set of fields. The various fields may be configured to store numeric information or text information, or a variety of other specialized types of information, such as date/time. Certain types of fields contain large amounts of text. Each of the fields can be searched to find records, wherein the fields meet certain criteria for the record request.
In certain instances, it is desirable to place existing information in a database for easy searching and access. However, the existing information may be in a proprietary binary format (i.e., a format that is computer-readable but not directly human-readable). Exemplary binary file formats include files created by Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, and Adobe Acrobat. In the prior art, it was not possible to perform a search on those types of binary files, as opposed to traditional files containing only text. It is desirable to have greater search capabilities of databases, including searching of binary files.